Mercury Filmworks, established in 1997 by Clint Eland, is an independent Canadian-based animation studio specializing in Toon Boom Harmony and Adobe Flash. One of the most highly respected animation studios out there, Mercury Filmworks is considered the cream of the crop when it comes to the Canadian animation industry, with only Nelvana outstripping it in global reputation.
They are most famous for their benchmark work in 2D puppet-rigged animation using the abovementioned software, and their animation on many shows has earned widespread acclaim for rivalling or even outstripping the quality that traditional hand-drawn animation can achieve. In particular, they are well-known for their award-winning work on shows created by Disney Television Animation, beginning in 2010 with Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil and later going on to include the likes of Season 1 of Wander over Yonder, The Lion Guard, The Ghost and Molly McGee, season 1 of Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Tangled: The Series, Mickey Mouse (2013), and seasons 1-3 of Jake And The Neverland Pirates. They're also pretty popular with Netflix's animation division, with Centaurworld and Kid Cosmic counting among their work for the streaming service's animation studio.
They have also done a lot of equally groundbreaking work on domestically-produced cartoons for various Canadian studios, such as Shaftesbury Films' Mischief City (one of the first cartoons entirely done in one studio using the beta version of Toon Boom), Studio B Productions' D'Myna Leagues (one of the first cartoons to integrate 3D locations into a 2D series), Breakthrough Entertainment's Jimmy Two-Shoes, and Cookie Jar Entertainment's 2005 reboot of Gerald McBoing-Boing. They've also produced a few of their own original series, such as Toot & Puddle (their first one and the first show to use the advanced builds and rigging techniques now common to shows done in Flash and Toon Boom animation), Atomic Puppet, Hilda (both European co-productions), and the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie TV series — all of which are also partly excuses for Mercury Filmworks to show off their ability to create quality animation sequences.
Mercury Filmworks has also animated many films, both shorts and feature-length movies. Among their more notable works in this area, including their own series of original animated shorts and a celebratory animated short made specially for Canada's 150th anniversary
. They also did the animated sequences for the Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway ride at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida!
The studio is based in Ottawa, the capital of Canada, but was originally established in Vancouver, where they did a lot of their early work, particularly on shows by Studio B Productions (such as Class of the Titans and Yvon of the Yukon). In fact, the Ottawa headquarters actually started off as an auxiliary studio opened in 2000 by the original Vancouver studio and it was originally based in Toronto until relocating in 2004. They also have a business division in Lighthouse Studios, an Irish animation studio that they co-own with Ireland's equally acclaimed Cartoon Saloon and best known for animating Netflix's The Cuphead Show!.
Visit their website here.
Mercury's credits include:
- 6teen (Seasons 1-2, replaced by Elliott Animation Inc.)
- Animated American
- Atomic Puppet
- The Bob's Burgers Movie (with Bento Box, Golden Wolf, Lighthouse Studios and Tonic DNA, among others)
- My Butt Has a Fever short (with Anipix Studio)
- Centaurworld (Harmony animation services only, traditional animation services done by Red Dog Culture House.)
- Class of the Titans (digital ink and paint only)
- Curious George (2006) (digital ink and paint services)
- Dark Oracle (animated sequences)
- D'Myna Leagues (digital paint)
- Doodlebops Rockin' Road Show (Animated Adaptation of The Doodlebops)
- Fangbone! (pilot)
- Fat Albert (animation sequences and paint assistance only)
- Fish Hooks
- Gerald McBoing-Boing (2005 reboot)
- The Ghost and Molly McGee
- Grossology (Season 1; Season 2 was done by Pipeline Studios)
- Guardians of the Galaxy (2015) (The "Princess Gamora" segment in "The Black Vortex Part 1")
- Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs (Season 2)
- Harvey Beaks (pilot)
- Hilda (with Silvergate Media. First show on Netflix)
- If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (the 2015 Animated Adaptation)
- Iggy Arbuckle
- Jake And The Neverland Pirates (Seasons 1-3; Season 4 was done by Bardel Entertainment)
- Jellystone!
- Jimmy Two-Shoes (Season 1 done solo; Season 2 was done in cooperation with Elliot Animation Inc.)
- Joseph: King of Dreams (Additional Pant services for Bardel Entertainment; with Wang Film Productions, Tama Productions, Fil-Cartoons, Character Builders, among others.)
- Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil
- Kid Cosmic (animation services only)
- Krypto the Superdog (both compositing and ink and paint, for Top Draw / Studio B)
- Legend of the Three Caballeros (with 6 Point Harness and Atomic Cartoons)
- The Lion Guard (TV movie and TV series)
- The Little Bear Movie
- Little Witch (unsold pilot)
- Looney Tunes: Back in Action (With Yowza Animation, Digital Domain, Hydraulx, Pixel Magic and others)
- Maggie and the Ferocious Beast (Season 3)
- Mega Babies
- Mickey Mouse (2013)
- Mischief City
- Ned's Newt (Season 2)
- The New Woody Woodpecker Show (Season 2; digital ink and paint only)
- Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero (Season 1)
- Pickle and Peanut (Pilot)
- The Powerpuff Girls Movie
- Producing Parker (with Philippine Animation Studio Inc.)
- Rainbow Fish (the 2000 Animated Adaptation)
- Rescue Heroes (Seasons 2 and 3, with AKOM)
- Ruby Gloom
- Shred Force (Pilot)
- Star vs. the Forces of Evil (Opening intro animation for first and second season; First 5 episodes of season 1 done solo)Note
- Stella and Sam
- Tangled: The Series (Season 1 and Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure for season 2)
- Team Hot Wheels: The Origin of Awesome
- Thunderbeards
- The Tigger Movie ("Someone Like Me" sequence only)
- Toot & Puddle
- Undergrads (digital ink and paint only)
- Wander over Yonder (Season 1)
- Wayside (season 1 as an additional production facility; season 2 as the main animation studio)
- Weird Years
- Wilbur (Animated storybook segments; the main portion of the show was puppetry)
- World of Quest (Season 1)
- Yvon of the Yukon (digital ink and paint only)
Tropes associated with Mercury Filmworks:
- Production Posse: Has been used by Disney Television Animation a lot since 2010, with Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Wander Over Yonder, Mickey Mouse, Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Kick Buttowski, Penn Zero, The Lion Guard, the Tangled animated series, and The Ghost and Molly McGee going to them.
